The Coral — The Curse of Love υ Liverpool band’s take on psychedelic and mod rock was both heart–wrenchingly sincere and sincerely 21st Century. υ Their self–titled debut album was nominated for the 2002 Mercury Music Prize and later voted the fourth best album of the year by NME Magazine. Formed: 1996 v Hoylake, Merseyside, AnglieLocation: Liverpool, Wirral, Merseyside, UKAlbum release: October 20, 2014Recorded on: a Tascam 8 track back in 2006 and self produced. It features 12 songs previously unreleased tracks.Record Label: Skeleton Key RecordsDuration: 42:02Tracks:01 Curse of Love, Pt. 1 3:1502 Wrapped in Blue 3:0903 You Closed the Door 3:5204 The Second Self 2:3205 View from the Mirror 3:2906 The Watcher in the Distance 4:5107 Gently 3:1108 Willow Song 3:2209 The Golden Bough 3:3010 The Game 3:1011 Nine Times the Colour Red 2:5212 Curse of Love, Pt. 2 2:49℗ 2014 Skeleton Key Recordsυ The Coral are a rock band that formed in 1996 in Hoylake, Wirral Peninsula, England. The band consists of James Skelly (vocals, guitar), Lee Southall (guitar), Paul Duffy (bass), Nick Power (keyboards) and Ian Skelly (drums). The band's music is a mixture of 1960s–style psychedelia and folk–rock with old–fashioned country and modern alternative rock influences. The Coral have released 7 albums (The Coral, Magic and Medicine, Nightfreak and the Sons of Becker, The Invisible Invasion, Roots & Echoes, The Singles Collection/Magic & Mysteries, and Butterfly House). Their self–titled debut album was nominated for the 2002 Mercury Music Prize and later voted the fourth best album of the year by NME Magazine.Personnel:υ James Skelly — Guitar / Vocals υ Ian Skelly — Drums υ Nick Power — Organ / Vocals υ Lee Southall — Rhythm Guitar / Vocals υ Paul Duffy — Bass / Vocals Review by Tim Sendra;Score: ****υ After recording their 2006 album The Invisible Invasion with Portishead’s Geoff Barrow and Adrian Utley at the helm, the Coral retreated to their home studio and an eight–track recorder to work on a follow–up. After crafting a simple and direct album that still stands as their best work, the Coral were looking to do something a little spookier and more melancholic. They certainly did that with The Curse of Love, but thanks to fears that the record company wouldn’t know what to do with it, plus the fact that guitarist Bill Ryder–Jones missed half the sessions, they decided to shelve the album and move ahead in a more traditional fashion. To that end, the next album they released, 2007’s Roots & Echoes, was a much brighter, more Coral–sounding album. υ After some prodding from Barrow, and partially due to the band not having anything new to release thanks to another set of shelved sessions, The Curse of Love finally saw the light of day in 2014. Hearing it at some remove, it’s hard to see why the band decided to put the album back on the shelf. It works perfectly as a follow–up to The Invisible Invasion, further stripping down their sound to the bare essentials and really allowing the songs to breath. The arrangements are wonderfully done, with a wide range of guitar sounds and tones, nice little sonic touches filling in the spaces, and James Skelly’s always impressive vocals sitting firmly in the center, right where they should be. The album may have struck a more somber tone than the record company may have wanted, and apart from the sticky uptempo track “The Golden Bough,” there are no radio–ready hits among the batch of moody, understated ballads and cinematic instrumentals, but as an artistic achievement, it stands as the equal to anything else they did up to that point. Or after, for that matter. The album represents a path not taken, though, and that’s kind of a bummer because even though the albums that came after are fine slices of bright psych pop, the group really did a fine job of crafting something low–key and gloomy here. Putting that sliver of melancholy aside, however, anyone who followed the Coral, and anyone who likes autumnal psych, will be glad they finally let this record out of the vault.Label: http://www.skeletonkeyrecords.com/Also:BY DANIEL JEAKINS, 17 OCTOBER 2014, 11:30 BST; SCORE: 4/10:: http://www.thelineofbestfit.com/reviews/albums/the-coral-the-curse-of-loveWebsite: http://www.thecoral.co.uk/MySpace: https://myspace.com/thecoralTwitter: https://twitter.com/thecoralbandFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheCoral// Interview with Bill–Ryder Jones::: http://shoutinginabucket.wordpress.com/2013/09/29/an-interview-with-bill-ryder-jones/Studio albums:υ The Coral (2002)υ Magic and Medicine (2003)υ Nightfreak and the Sons of Becker (2004)υ The Invisible Invasion (2005)υ Roots & Echoes (2007)υ Butterfly House (2010)υ The Curse of Love (2014)____________________________________________________________